Guidelines for the governance of systemic risks

Systemic risks are risk that manifest in complex adaptive systems. They are fundamentally different from conventional risks. Traditional risk management practices are not sufficient for dealing with them. IRGC’s guidelines for the governance of systemic risks address the question of how to deal with systemic risks in the context of system transitions, i.e., in situations that require adaptation to new context conditions or transformation of an organisation or ecosystem.

The guidelines have the following objectives:

Provide guidance to organisations in their initiatives to understanding complex system dynamics and reflecting upon their position within these dynamics.

Help actors in a system to (a) prevent the shift of the system within which the organisation operates to an undesirable regime, or (b) trigger and facilitate the transition of the respective system to a preferable regime, considering changes in underlying context conditions or proximity to a tipping point that may trigger a regime shift.

The guidelines comprise seven interlinked steps:

Explore the system in which the organisation operates; define the boundaries of the system and the organisation’s position in a dynamic environment

Short presentation of the IRGC guidelines for the governance of systemic risks, IRGC, 2018 (PowerPoint)

The EPFL International Risk Governance Center is a neutral platform for dialogue about emerging and systemic risks as well as opportunities and risks related to new technologies, with the aim of providing recommendations for their governance.

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